Is it time to ban LED Headlights

I have a Fiesta with LED headlamps - I must be the most hated person on this forum.

I see cars with LED headlamps all the time - including other Fiestas - and can honestly say whilst I've noticed they are bright I have not been dazzled. I must say the brightness at night works wonders, especially on the country roads I drive on. They make such a difference it is kind of amazing.
 
Finglonga said:
Old being the key word. Used to dislike my brake lights staying on but doesn't bother me now. If you don't stare at them they wont dazzle you.

Back to headlights, I was following a new 7Series yesterday early morning on the way to work with very bright lights and they were set to auto dip as you could see when they changed. However the driver was a moron as approaching a junction a car was waiting to pull out and was being tanned by them as they did not dip. If he was paying attention he would have dipped them manually but people depend on the technology so much they let it take over.

Also saw a renault driving with DRL on the front and no lights on the back....stupid idea manafacturers.
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So what you're saying is manufacturers should go the whole hog and make it so that rear lights and headlights are on all the time?
DRL's have never been a replacement for lights, they are designed to be as bright as possible during daylight hours, to increase visibility of the vehicle for everyone, including pedestrians. As a rule you aren't so bothered about vehicles that are driving away from you, rather those that are heading in your direction.
If it's dark enough to require rear lights as well, then it's certainly too dark for DRL's and you should have already switched to at least sidelights (Or dimmed DRL's) if not headlights.
 
stoofa said:
So what you're saying is manufacturers should go the whole hog and make it so that rear lights and headlights are on all the time?
DRL's have never been a replacement for lights, they are designed to be as bright as possible during daylight hours, to increase visibility of the vehicle for everyone, including pedestrians. As a rule you aren't so bothered about vehicles that are driving away from you, rather those that are heading in your direction.
If it's dark enough to require rear lights as well, then it's certainly too dark for DRL's and you should have already switched to at least sidelights (Or dimmed DRL's) if not headlights.
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I think the issue is that on some cars the DRLs:
  • Are bright enough that they illuminate the road ahead of you so that you think the lights are on
  • Illuminate the dash in the same way as if you had your headlights on, so that you think the lights are on
Obviously the above does also depend on you not paying attention properly and missing the fact you don't have a big green light on the dash showing the headlights are on, but then bear in mind these are probably the same people who don't notice everyone flashing them to turn the lights on, and don't notice the big orange light on the dash showing that the fog lights are on :p

Simon said:
Never ever thought a brake light blinds me. Maybe you shouldn’t stop so close to the car in front ?
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This is possibly dependant on what car you drive, in the same way as whether headlights of the car behind dazzle you in the mirror. I used to notice it a lot in my Civic, which had quite a low seating position, in my Zoe which is comparatively high up it's nowhere near as bad.
 
Finglonga said:
Also saw a renault driving with DRL on the front and no lights on the back....stupid idea manafacturers.
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That appears to be standard on all the French marques which use the front sidelights as DRLs. I put LED sidelights in mine as the OEM ones were almost invisible in normal daylight.
 
I do agree that DRL's have made people lazy; but before DRL's we had people in the fog with zero lights, at least these days there are at least a couple at the front :)
The retro-fit of DRL's has also added another nuisance to the road - because those certainly don't DIM at night as they should, so we're blinded by those and the retro-fitted HIDs as well.
 
they really should just mandate that auto lights are fitted to every car sold,

the technology is surely cheap enough now for it to be a non issue.
 
233 said:
they really should just mandate that auto lights are fitted to every car sold,

the technology is surely cheap enough now for it to be a non issue.
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It would still require the drivers to set the switch to auto, however. There's your point of failure.

Auto lights with no override to turn them off would/should never be legal as there's a few situations where you may need the engine running/ignition on, but lights not on.
 
Out of interest, have any of you found driving an SUV/4x4 with a higher seating position, helps wih reducing headllight dazzle?

With wearing contact lenses I suffer badly from glare and dazzle from these new lights and although I'd prefer another estate car as my daily, I was wondering whether a higher position would help...
 
Mr Joshua said:
No, unless a year old is considered old.

Sounds like **** poor design of the vehicles that won't allow the driver to sit in traffic without having the brake lights glaring away.
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How would you even know whether the brake lights are on anyway?

I don't think there is a single auto hold automatic on the market now that doesn't do it. There is probably a type approval reason for it, it can't be a coincidence that they all do it.

Which ones do you drive that don't?
 
Mr Joshua said:
No, unless a year old is considered old.

Sounds like **** poor design of the vehicles that won't allow the driver to sit in traffic without having the brake lights glaring away.
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Its not that at all, its that you dont need to apply the handbrake manually.
In the audi with hill hold and hold assist the brakes automatically apply and stay on once you come to a complete stop, these have the brake lights illuminated, as thats the law.
After a period of time, I think its a minute or so, it will switch and apply the handbrake instead of the footbrake.

I can choose to still apply the handbrake, and do if I know I am going to be stuck in something thats not going to move.
 
Yurka said:
Out of interest, have any of you found driving an SUV/4x4 with a higher seating position, helps wih reducing headllight dazzle?

With wearing contact lenses I suffer badly from glare and dazzle from these new lights and although I'd prefer another estate car as my daily, I was wondering whether a higher position would help...
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My other half has one and yes there does seem to be less glare as your sitting higher relative to other vehicles. Its not perfect, but its definately less noticeable. Also far less of what I find more annoying and thats the flashing you get when being followed by a higher vehicle with LEDs/Xenons on bumpier roads.
 
Yurka said:
Out of interest, have any of you found driving an SUV/4x4 with a higher seating position, helps wih reducing headllight dazzle?

With wearing contact lenses I suffer badly from glare and dazzle from these new lights and although I'd prefer another estate car as my daily, I was wondering whether a higher position would help...
Click to expand...

Yes, sitting high up makes a massive difference.
 
Because of this thread I actually took stock of the queue at the roadworks on my way home. There were about 5 cars in front of me as I pulled up last night. I would say all had the brake lights illuminated whilst stationary.
Couldn't be 100% certain on the very front, but appeared so as when the lights changed the cars seemed to move off and the red lights I could see seemed to pretty much match the number of cars.
 
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